


It Starts with a Spark

by opalmatrix



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Developing Relationship, Friendship, Loss of Parent(s), M/M, Master/Servant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 04:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13803282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: Kougaiji discovers that he has more in common with his new bodyguard than he would have thought.





	It Starts with a Spark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShadowEtienne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowEtienne/gifts).



> And last of all, a developing friendship starting to catch fire. Chag Purim Sameach, Etienne! (Beta by [**avierra**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avierra/).)

Kougaiji was tired, but the dragon he rode was even more so. Ahead of him, Dokugakuji and the other dragon were silhouetted against the darkening sky. The big guard waved one arm and then pointed down. Apparently they were stopping for the night: youkai could see well in dim conditions, but the long-distance dragons were daytime hunters.

Dokugakuji's dragon started downward and Kougaiji's followed. They landed near a rock formation at the foot of a hill, where a stream tumbled downslope. The large rocks offered cover and shelter from the wind.

"This should do, right, Your Highness?" said Dokugakuji. The formality didn't sit well on the big fellow. Kougaiji preferred the easy manner his new bodyguard used with Yaone and Lirin.

"You know you don't need to call me that," he said. "Not out here, not between the two of us."

Dokugakuji shrugged and smiled. "Whatever you say, boss." He stripped his dragon of its flying tack, and the big beast sighed and sprawled out on the sandy ground. "I'm gonna find us some firewood, OK?"

"Yes, please do." The wind was blowing in chill from the north. Kougaiji undid his own dragon's gear and unpacked the food hamper. He was under no illusions that his stepmother had sent them on a fruitful expedition, but his relief over being out of her presence (and that of her creepy human flunky) almost outweighed his concerns over what they would find at their destination.

Dokugakuji was soon back with a mighty armload of wood. He set about making a fire, and soon a warming blaze was burning. Kougaiji sat down next to it and watched his companion set up the rest of their camp.

"You're good at this," he said.

Dokugakuji shook out the second bedroll and then ran one big hand the wrong way through his spiky black hair. "Learned from my Dad. One of the few things he was able to teach me." He sat down near Kougaiji and turned the skewers of meat he'd set up to broil in the flames.

"What happened?" said Kougaiji, after a moment. He felt a big, blank space in Dokugakuji's story. 

"Dad died when I was eight or nine. We found out he'd set up another family on the side, some human woman he was nuts about. Stupid. It wasn't ever going to work out. They killed themselves, together."

"Oh," said Kougaiji. Now he wished he hadn't asked. 

"S'ok. It's hard to keep pretending it didn't happen, you know? Someone recognized my father after they found the two of them dead, so they brought the little kid to my mom. That's the little brother I've mentioned. She hated him, of course."

"A hanyou," said Kougaiji. He should have known; Dokugakuji had mentioned his brother to Lirin, once, and he had described the boy's hair to her. "Red, like yours, Onii-san!" she'd laughed. Red hair was not uncommon in Gyumaoh's line, but it was rare otherwise. Except, of course, in youkai-human mixes.

"Yeah," said Dokugakuji. "He was a good kid. I sometimes wonder what happened to him."

"We have a great deal in common, then," said Kougaiji. "Both fatherless, and our fathers…"

Yeah," said Dokugakuji. He shook his head. "I mean, Mom was hard to deal with. But still, they had sworn to each other. He shouldn't have done that." He pulled the skewers off the flames and handed one to Kougaiji, who took it without seeing it.

"The Bull King has traditionally had many women," he said. "It was hard on my mother, but her clan was traditional as well. She did not think she had the right to complain."

Dougakuji chewed a mouthful of meat and swallowed. "But why…?"

"Yes?"

"Your mother and father are still…sealed. But the Lady Gyokumen, Lady Lirin, and you aren't."

"I know. I don't understand it either. Except that my mother would have always supported my father, so maybe the heavenly spell covered her too, since she would have done anything to free him."

"Yeah, but now your stepmother is trying to free him anyway."

"Yes. It is not given to mortals to understand the ways of Heaven, but I am not pleased with the Jade Emperor and his court." He bit into the meat. It was tasty, but he had little appetite. He forced himself to finish it, then broke the wooden skewer to bits and cast them into the flames.

Dokugakuji did the same, and they watched the fire eating at the darkness. It did not matter how much it ate, thought Kougaiji: there was always more darkness. He thought of his stepmother, and of the black, empty eyes of her pet human, and he shivered.

Dokugakuji looked over at him, then moved closer and slung an arm around his shoulders. The man was warm, and his arm was hard with muscle. "Is this OK?" asked the other father's son.

"It's good," said Kougaiji. And the darkness rolled back, just a little, from the warm spot they made together.


End file.
